Branch History

In The Beginning

The Branch origins lie in a chance meeting of a group of beer fans and three hirsute SPBW members at the Great British Beer Festival 1997, where we were asked if we would like to join the society. At this stage it is only fair to say that we had not heard of the SPBW in any shape or form, but listening to the obvious enthusiasm this trio of weirdy beardy beer drinkers had for their involvement we signed up on the spot. Thus the Surbiton branch was born. Enthused with new hope and infused with old ale we wrote up a constitution, set up a series of monthly meetings and sat around in various pubs thinking "well, this is nice, but what happens next". Around the same time thoughts of a beer society were being entertained at the Willoughby Arms in Kingston and through a mutual acquaintance and an astoundingly good guest beer the two groups merged into one - the Kingston SPBW.

The Branch Today

The branch meets on the first Wednesday of every month in the Willoughby Arms function room. The meetings are lively, informal, democratic and fortified by the regular and guest beers always available at the bar. Our main strengths lie in the diversity of our membership and our busy social calendar. Check out the diary page for the latest news. Branch Personnel are elected at the AGM in January and all members are entitled to put their names forward for positions. The posts are currently held by the following:

Beer of the Year

Each year, at the branch AGM, the members vote for what they consider to have been the best beer they have sampled during the previous year. The eligible beers are those served at the bar at each branch meeting, and, if everybody moans enough, beers from the Willougby beer festivals. The winners so far have been -